A charity scammed out of tens-of-thousands of pounds by someone pretending to be from Amazon has had to close for good. Margaret Lippard, chair of trustees at Bargoed Community Hub, also lost substantial funds from her personal account and now wants to warn others about the risks of sophisticated scams.
The 81-year-old from Hengoed said had always been weary of cold-callers and felt “immune” to being scammed until it happened to her on November 27 2020. She said: “They rang me [on my landline] and asked if I had authorised Amazon payments. I said ‘no’ and then they asked me to go and look at my account – and there we the transactions I knew nothing about. It gave them credibility.
“I thought I was completely immune to scams because when I get a cold call, I put the phone down straight away and I always tell my husband to not engage with them. I think it was because at the time I wasn’t very busy and this call wasn’t automated – I just got pulled in.” Read more:Fraudster did week’s work on film set then claimed £36,000
Margaret said through her personal details in her account, scammers were able to effectively “hijack” her computer, mobile and landline for three days until November 29 so she could not use them. By the end of it, she said tens-of-thousands had been taken from her personal bank account as well as £55,000 of the charity’s funds.
“They called on the landline, so tied that up,” she said. “They then wanted me to keep my mobile phone open, so that was held…
